Pine Tree

Kurt Elieson

There are pretty much only two kinds of evergreen trees in Dallas-Fort Worth: pines and junipers. You can easily tell a pine tree by its needles. Sewing needles are straight with no branching, and so are pine needles (you can distinguish juniper scale leaves because they are branchy, not straight). And pine trees aways have a pile of dropped red pine needles under the tree.

Click on the pictures to see them up close.

Pine trees often drop their lower branches too, leaving a single straight trunk. The trunk is covered in large patches of bark that look like reptile scales. Touch the trunk and you may get sticky sap on your fingers. Pine trees also have pine cones.

Pine trees are easy to recognize, but you will not see too many of them around Dallas-Fort Worth (except at Christmas time). The further southeast you go on Highway 45 toward Houston, the more pine trees you will find.

Page last updated 2011.02.05

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